Despite the fact that Chelsea’s new owners Boehly-Clearlake have spent more than £500,000,000 on players since taking control, the Blues still have a critical positional weakness: center-forward. The struggle to find a striker who will consistently score goals is one that Chelsea’s coaches and supporters are all too familiar with.
The team isn’t uncommon in that regard, however, as only a small minority of teams don’t seek out a forward capable of scoring 20 goals a season, with Manchester City maybe being the exception. Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, and Alvaro Morata all arrived for significant fees, and despite numerous attempts to resolve the situation, the three left with identical feelings.
As stated by Graham Potter in February, the solution to the problem has been to attack as a team. “We’ve attempted to address the goalscoring problem in terms of helping the squad attack better. You can focus on one position, but it’s debatable whether or not clubs without a recognized center-forward have won the Premier League in the previous four or five years.
“It is better for the team if they play better, attacks better, create more chances, and attack more dangerously. The greatest approach to address the issue of not scoring enough goals is to do that.”
While going after a high-paid goal scorer might not be the best course of action in that regard, perhaps the best course of action this summer is to sign a player who fits the club’s transfer philosophy of being young and promising with the all-around ability and a flair for scoring goals. After the Blues were linked with a move for Brighton’s Evan Ferguson, Kylian Mbappe may have shown them the way.
The France captain is fully aware of the Irish player’s abilities before their international matchup because of how well he has performed for the Seagulls in a breakthrough season. About the 18-year-old, Mbappe remarked, “He’s a good striker, an important striker for that squad.”
“Of course, we’ve watched a few videos about him. But we are hoping that he won’t act tomorrow, which will mean that we will prevail and complete our task. He does, however, play well.”
Mbappe, who is surrounded by world-class strikers at PSG and is arguably already a player of a generational caliber with years to go, is aware of a quality striker when he sees one. It might encourage Chelsea to pursue Ferguson in the summer and secure his services before rival teams.